Interim protection was to extend to all four, but unfortunately two on the list, 35 City Road and 63 City Road, have recently received planning permission for complete demolition, meaning their heritage listing here will only be valid if those planned developers don’t go ahead as currently planned. Too late perhaps but better than never.

We hope council pushes strongly behind the scenes for the developers to retain at least facades on those two sites, bolstered by this listing, and we hope the remainder of the review comes back to council in short order, so that more of Southbank’s remaining heritage can be protected alongside moves to make the suburb more livaeble.

We also commend the Lord Mayor and council for seeking interim heritage protection, something the Lord Mayor has previously argued against seeking